Church - Song Force Crystal

[Insomnia]

I go to local shows about once or twice week. There's an amazingly expansive local presence in Isla Vista, a small college town in Santa Barbara, CA. There are several groups of kids that get together, raise funds, and have bands perform in their garages, and kitchens, and front lawns. Some of these bands are locals, some of these bands are touring. We managed to get Mae Shi to play in a 10x10 living room to a crowd of 100+.

Church - Song Force Crystal

This last Monday was the best show I've seen in the past six months. There's this four piece band from Portland called Church, not to be confused with the band The Church. Portland, I feel, is one of the driving forces in musical progression for the past two decades, so I had high expectations. Those expectations heightened when I walked in and saw the gear they brought. Most bands in IV have very limited set ups with relatively cheap gear. These guys had a lot of high end gear, an extra half of a drum set, several synths. Great amps. I was fucking envious.

These guys have a really unique set-up. Their are two main vocalists, one playing a sampler, floor tom, cymbal, other rhythm instruments, synth. The other is playing guitar, and the Moog Taurus. Even the drummer was singing, and all of these guys had really unique voices, not the best singers, but they had it all on key despite it. The vocals were saturated with reverb, and the harmonies were just amazing.

I would describe their music as epic. It's really the simplest way to do it. Almost all of their songs felt like a journey. The songs would start slower and simple, with certain unique elements that wouldn't normally join in mainstream music. Then the songs build, add on more layers and slowly grow in intensity, and then they'll break into an assaulting double time and there wasn't anybody that couldn't help but flail along with the music.

There is so much emotion in their playing, I can't find words for it. I just know that emotion is the most important thing to me in music, and theirs palpable. The one bad bit is that this didn't come through in their CD. They home recorded it, and during that process, something just didn't carry over. The songs are still good and all, but these guys need to record their next release in a real studio with a real producer.

I highly suggest you check their CD out. If they're playing anywhere near you, make the drive. It will be well worth it.

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1935612/7579176/